Shefflin expects big Kilkenny response with massive game ahead

Kilkenny’s All-Ireland championship hopes took a hit as a result of defeat on Saturday, but manager Tommy Shefflin had no qualms as he felt they were beaten by the better side.

“It’s a disappointing result as we were coming here to win today, but we can have no complaints as Waterford were by far the better team,” he said.

“They could have had two or three goals in the first half alone and they had more chances in the second half too. We’ve Dublin next week and we just have to look back on the game and see where we can improve things.

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“We can’t dwell too long on this because it’s nearly knockout from here on so we’ll just have to get the girls back up and go again.

“We’ve put in too much work so far this year to let this just drag us down so hopefully we can improve things.”

The Shamrocks (Ballyhale) man acknowledged that Kilkenny didn’t take their chances when presented as they failed to reel in a Waterford team that led for the majority of the contest.

“Waterford played a running game which they are very good at, but we did get back into it at the start of the second half and just didn’t get enough scores on the board.

“When you are in charge you have to keep the scoreboard ticking over and we failed to do that which made things more difficult for us,” Shefflin added.

The Cats poor tally of just three points from play over the course of the 60 minutes was down to a mixture of poor forward play and good defending with the Munster side’s tactics making things difficult for the home side.

“Waterford had an extra player back in defence and they used the ball better than us as it’s a style they are well used to,” the manager said.

“We just didn’t make use of the wind in the first half enough and at times our decision making was poor as well.”

Kilkenny have one win from their two games thus far but they have some big tests on the horizon with this week’s trip to the capital taking on even bigger significance ahead of their final game at home to Galway. Improvement will certainly be needed if the Cats are to advance to the knockout stages of the All-Ireland series.

“The game was a big step up on the Derry game and that match is gone so we just have to learn things from this defeat and pick it up for our third game away to Dublin this year and that’s not going to be easy either.

“Our score difference is still good despite the defeat and if we can beat both Galway and Dublin, we still have a chance of topping the group,” he said. “That’s still the aim.

“There is pressure on us going to Dublin and it’s a big challenge but that’s what the girls play the game for and I’d expect a response from them.

“We’ve played three weeks in a row with another game next week but all the girls want to do is play matches so there’s no problem there and we aren’t looking for any excuses.”

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